Next on the agenda: START III, which would further cut the two nations’ stockpiles to between 1,500 and 2,500 warheads apiece. But Clinton will face a tricky negotiation: he hopes to get Putin to give up his resistance to revising the ABM treaty, which must be done if Washington is to develop a missile-defense system. On Friday Putin threatened to drop START II and “the whole system of treaties” if that happens.
If Clinton is cozying up to Putin, he will have company: British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Putin arrives in London this week to deepen a relationship that began last month when Blair flew to St. Petersburg just before the Russian elections. At Blair’s insistence, Putin will also meet with Queen Elizabeth.
